Five weeks post-surgery

Tor wasn't really cooperating here, hence the straight face! He actually can smile. But here are the latest photos.

After three weeks, our biggest concern was weight loss. He claimed to weigh in at 120 (!!) which would have been 15 pounds down from pre-surgery. But a week later he was at 127, and now he's up to 128... so we're hoping for him to gain it all back--and more, if possible!

After three weeks, he was able to have pasta with meat sauce, which was a real improvement over mashed potatoes and gravy. And he's been able to cut back on the peanut butter milkshakes, although those are still a good idea for weight gain.

We're hopeful that we're now on the final trek to complete recovery. Tor is supposed to do some physical therapy to stretch his jaw. I'm afraid he's not as consistent about it as we'd like. But he's back at school and the workload is building--as well as the pressure to get college applications started. So there's a lot on his plate!

New pictures from August 5 -- 10-days post-surgery. Looking pretty good!

Six Days Post Surgery

The adventure continues.

Tor felt pretty low on Saturday, but he's been asking for hugs to help him deal with it, and he says that helps a lot.

Getting Tor to eat enough is still a challenge. Last night, though, he managed some diluted mashed potatoes and even a little bit of sole meuniere (dissolved on the tongue). He's very tired of sweet shakes (especially chocolate), and was glad to have something savory. According to my notes from our pre-op appointment with Dr. Schendel, he is now entitled to move from a pure liquid diet to a "no chew" diet. This opens up more possibilities. Hopefully he'll get his caloric input up.

He has stopped taking the narcotic pain meds (he hated how they taste and they made him very sleepy). And he doesn't really need tylenol or ibuprofen, but takes them occasionally. We're still trying to keep him on track with 20 minutes of icing every hour. It's amazing how time flies when all you do is ice, sleep and eat.